Anchors Away Monday: Facts and Opinions

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My anchor chart today focuses on facts and
opinions. I have to
admit that I was surprised to discover how difficult it is for some
students to distinguish fact from opinion. Myexperience indicates that
the statements that confusestudentsmostare those opinions that
nearly everybody would agree with. Take this sentence, for example:

"Running a marathon is
difficult."

Since
most people would agree that running a marathonisdifficult,
some students wrongly assume that it is a fact.

Also, if a studentpassionatelyagrees
with a statement, they tend to want tomakeit a
fact.

"Dogs make better pets than cats."

Oh, MY! Doesthatever lead to some
arguments! Because
some students think they have stories that can "prove" this statement
true, they believe this statement is a fact, and it sure can be difficult to
convince them otherwise. It can be
challenging to persuade a student that that statement is an opinion, and
arguments like "But dogsprotecttheir owners... cats
don't" will not work
as sufficient proof.

We begin by
defining the words
"fact" and "opinion", and looking at key words and ideas
that are often in each type of statement. Yes, I have to explain the quote "Just the facts,
Ma'am." as being a phrase made popular by an old television show namedDragnet. (When Detective Joe Friday would
question a woman about a crime he was trying to solve, he would sometimes say
this phrase.)

After the
introduction, I give each student a slip of paper with a statement. Students take turns reading the
statements aloud. After each
student reads it, he/she states whether he/she believes the statement is a FACT
or an OPINION. I also require
each student to justify his/her answer. I try to keep all of the students engaged throughout the lesson by
instructing them to "give us a thumbs up if you agree, and a thumbs down
if you disagree".

Would you like to replicate this anchor chart in your classroom? Or, would you
like to print the statements above and have your students work with a partner
to sort them? Click on either of these images to download these items for FREE!!

7 comments:

Thanks for the amazing freebie! I know when I was a GED student even my adult students struggled with this topic because just like you said they sometimes agree with the opinions, so they assume they are facts.

It's amazing how hard fact and opinion are for our kiddos. I love this idea. Thanks for sharing and for the freebie! I'm excited to link up tonight for the first time with you. :) :) :)AnaMrs. Bentin's Blackboard